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Hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19: a Rheumatologist ’s Take on the Lessons Learned
AbstractPurpose of ReviewTold from the viewpoint of rheumatologists, this review tells the story of hydroxychloroquine and its swift ascent to become a household name as a therapeutic strategy against the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus. This review describes the history, mechanisms, pharmacokinetics, therapeutic applications, and safety profile of hydroxychloroquine as an immunomodulatory and antiviral agent. It also summarizes the major studies that launched and assessed the use of hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19 infection.Recent FindingsMore recent literature calls into question the long-held dogma that endolysosomal alkalin...
Source: Current Allergy and Asthma Reports - January 21, 2021 Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research

Hydroxychloroquine Fails to Help Coronavirus Patients in Largest Study of the Drug to Date
In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists led by a team at Columbia University found that people infected with COVID-19 taking hydroxychloroquine do not fare better than those not receiving the drug. The study published Thursday is the largest to date to investigate the drug, which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat malaria and certain autoimmune disorders, as a treatment for COVID-19. Dr. Neil Schluger, chief of the division of pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine at Columbia, and his team studied more than 1,300 patients admitted to New York-Presbyterian H...
Source: TIME: Health - May 7, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news

Vaccines, Antibodies and Drug Libraries. The Possible COVID-19 Treatments Researchers Are Excited About
In early April, about four months after a new, highly infectious coronavirus was first identified in China, an international group of scientists reported encouraging results from a study of an experimental drug for treating the viral disease known as COVID-19. It was a small study, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, but showed that remdesivir, an unapproved drug that was originally developed to fight Ebola, helped 68% of patients with severe breathing problems due to COVID-19 to improve; 60% of those who relied on a ventilator to breathe and took the drug were able to wean themselves off the machines after 18...
Source: TIME: Health - April 14, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news

All Your Coronavirus Questions, Answered
One of the worst symptoms of any plague is uncertainty—who it will strike, when it will end, why it began. Merely understanding a pandemic does not stop it, but an informed public can help curb its impact and slow its spread. It can also provide a certain ease of mind in a decidedly uneasy time. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about the COVID-19 pandemic from TIME’s readers, along with the best and most current answers science can provide. A note about our sourcing: While there are many, many studies underway investigating COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-19, the novel coronavirus that causes the illn...
Source: TIME: Health - April 14, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: TIME Staff Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Explainer Source Type: news

President Trump Called Hydroxychloroquine a ‘Game Changer,’ But Experts Warn Against Self-Medicating With the Drug. Here’s What You Need to Know
After President Trump, late last week, expressed great confidence in the promise of a new COVID-19 therapy that combines two existing prescription medications, supplies of these two drugs rapidly began disappearing from pharmacy shelves. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed an Indian company previously restricted from importing drug products into the US to now start manufacturing one of the drugs. And U.S. plants began gearing up to produce enough to meet the surge in demand. But in those few days, a few people who began self medicating with the drugs in an effort to prevent COVID-19 have died, and others have bee...
Source: TIME: Health - March 24, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus With Isolated Psychiatric Symptoms and Antinuclear Antibody Detection in the Cerebrospinal Fluid
Conclusion: Some patients with psychiatric syndromes and increased ANA titers may suffer from psychiatric variants of SLE, even if the American College of Rheumatology criteria for SLE are not met. Whether the psychiatric symptoms in our patient represent a prodromal stage with the later manifestation of full-blown SLE or a subtype of SLE with isolated CNS involvement remains unclear. Regardless, early diagnosis and initiation of immunosuppressive treatment are essential steps in preventing further disease progression and organ damage. Intrathecal ANAs with extractable nuclear antigen differentiation may be a more sensitiv...
Source: Frontiers in Psychiatry - April 24, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research

Design, Synthesis and In Vitro Release Studies of Co-drugs for Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Abstract Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that results in a chronic, systemic inflammation that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally the synovial joints. The tendency for joint destruction is greatest in the early stages of disease hence current trend is to introduce a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) immediately after the diagnosis of RA in a step- up approach which is generally followed by its combination with a corticosteroid or NSAID. DMARD suppresses inflammatory activity over a long time-frame thus improving day to day function, and also prevents, lessens or dela...
Source: Inflammation and Allergy Drug Targets - December 1, 2015 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Kashmira P, Suneela D, Shakuntalah C, Poorvashree J Tags: Inflamm Allergy Drug Targets Source Type: research

Ocular Involvement in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases
Abstract Eye involvement represents a common finding in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases, particularly rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren syndrome, seronegative spondyloarthropathy, and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis. The eye is a privileged immune site but commensal bacteria are found on the ocular surface. The eye injury may be inflammatory, vascular or infectious, as well as iatrogenic, as in the case of hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, corticosteroids, and bisphosphonates. Manifestations may affect different components of the eye, with episcleritis involving the episclera...
Source: Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology - October 22, 2015 Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research

Hydroxychloroquine preferentially induces apoptosis of CD45RO+ effector T cells by inhibiting autophagy: A possible mechanism for therapeutic modulation of T cells
Autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, inflammatory bowel disease, and rheumatoid arthritis, are the result of inappropriate immunes responses against “self.” Hyperactivated, and likely autoreactive, effector T cells are common in autoimmunity, indicating that T-cell homeostasis is disturbed. Impaired apoptosis of self-reactive, effector T cells has been proposed as a driving mechanism of autoimmunity. Consequently, a better understanding of the mechanisms regulating T-cell homeostasis and identifying possible ways to manipulate it pharmacologically for therapeutic purpose remai...
Source: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology - March 29, 2013 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Jorg van Loosdregt, Roberto Spreafico, Maura Rossetti, Berent J. Prakken, Martin Lotz, Salvatore Albani Tags: Letters to the Editor Source Type: research